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The CEO of the Italian Sea Group, who bought the Bayesian’s constructors Perini Navi two years ago, has spoken out following the sinking of the £30 million (R700 million) superyacht off the coast of Sicily, claiming at least seven lives.

In his first public comments since the disaster, Giovanni Costantino said, “This was human error, the yacht sank because it took on water”.

According to Constantino, who spoke with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, the rear hatch was “clearly” open, the ship’s keel should have been dropped, people shouldn’t have been in their rooms, and the crew should have been aware of the storm.

“The dynamic of the sinking is seen and read from AIS (Automatic Identification System) data and lasted sixteen minutes. We have given this data to the prosecutors at Termini Immerse.”

“From the images it looks as if the yacht had been taking on water for four minutes. All it took was another gust of wind to turn her over, that meant more water coming in. She then straightened very briefly before going down.”

Costantino went further, saying the tragedy was avoidable, but an “endless chain of errors” caused the “unsinkable” ship to go down.

“The passengers reported an absurd thing, namely that the storm came unexpected, suddenly. It’s not true. Everything was predictable. I have the weather charts in front of me here. Nothing came suddenly … Ask yourself, why was no fisherman from Porticello out that night? A fisherman reads the weather conditions and a ship doesn’t? The disturbance was fully readable in all the weather charts. One could not not know.”

Twelve passengers and ten crew members were on board the Bayesian when it sank, according to the Coast Guard, and fifteen of them were later saved. Recaldo Thomas, the yacht’s cook, was found dead not far away.

Costantino also offered his opinion on how the tragedy could have been avoided.

“To begin with, in a weather alert situation it was inappropriate to have, as I read, a party. Not that evening. The hull and deck needed to be secured by closing all doors and hatches, after putting the guests at the ship’s meeting point as per emergency procedure. Then start the engines and pull up the anchor or release it automatically, put the bow to the wind and lower the keel.”

“Instead it took on water with the guests still in the cabin. All it took was a 40-degree tilt and those in the cabin found themselves with the door above. Can you imagine a 60-70 year old man climbing out?” he said.”

Costantino believes that there would have been “a zero risk if the correct manoeuvres had been made and if situations that compromised the ship’s stability had not occurred, he also said newspaper reports that the boat went down in seconds are “nonsense.” He believes the yacht would have “went down” after water “started to enter” within “six minutes.”

The body of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has been recovered from the sunken superyacht, Italian interior ministry official Massimo Mariani told Reuters Thursday, but Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah is still missing.

The British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has been confirmed dead by search and rescue authorities after a yacht sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm, according to two news agencies.https://t.co/kARRlzL6Jb pic.twitter.com/pfn6ft7GVJ

— mmnjug™ (@mmnjug) August 22, 2024

Lynch was celebrating with family and friends on the yacht following his acquittal in a fraud trial in June when it rapidly sank after its mast, one of the world’s tallest, broke in half during a violent storm. The coast guard has said 22 people were aboard the Bayesian when it sank — 12 passengers and 10 crew — and that 15 of those were subsequently rescued.